God’s “wrong number”?

This is not Suzanne. It’s a photo of two women I know and I think it’s a sweet photo. 🙂

I am very thankful that God keeps my life so interesting. Recently, a week or so ago I received a most interesting phone call. As I headed towards the ringing phone, the answering machine came on and I heard a woman’s shaky voice leaving a message. I quickly picked up the call and learned from the woman that it was a “wrong number.” So, I tried to explain how she might find the right number after she told me who she was trying to reach. I also told her that I would pray for her because she also disclosed the reason she needed to reach her son at his work.

She asked me my name and I asked for hers. Her name is Suzanne and she is 88-years-old. She was sincerely interested in sharing her life with me–a complete stranger who she called by “accident.” In that moment I decided to pause from what I was doing to take the time to listen to this serendipitous caller. Suzanne zig-zagged me way back to her family’s ancestry and then lead me back to her life now. She chattered on. I could tell that she had so much more to tell me and I didn’t know where I could possibly insert a suggestion that I thought might help us both because she was thoroughly enjoying talking with me.

Since it was obvious that Suzanne was very interested in continuing a conversation with me, I decided to ask her if she’d like me to call her back to talk some more sometime. So, when she paused briefly from her artful sharing, I ventured to quickly ask her my question. She was so delighted about the idea. A half hour later (yes, a half hour!) we parted company on the phone with my promise to pray for her and her situation and I also promised that I’d give her a call soon.

I’ll tell ya–that woman has lived an extraordinary life. I learned a lot about it in that half hour. I told her that I am confident that God gave us a gift of our chat this morning. With my promise of an upcoming phone call, she said, “I’ll be right here, Honey.”

Perhaps it wasn’t a wrong number after all. Maybe–just maybe–it was a phone call arranged by God to bring two complete strangers together. Just maybe I was meant to take that time to be kind to a stranger, to offer my gift of time even though I was quite busy that day and could have let the answering machine answer the phone or could have been brief with the caller.

How many shut-ins and lonely people are forever waiting for a phone call or for a visit from someone–even a short one? They hope that maybe they’ll hear from a loved one today. Or, possibly even a stranger.

Opportunities for grace unfold when we pause, ponder, and listen to God’s gentle whispers to our soul. We can become such a beautiful spark of joy in someone’s life if we would only take the time to reach out to connect with them, visit with them, or give them some of our time when they reach out to us. Our simple loving gestures can make all of the difference in the world!

Who can you reach out to today or some time very soon? I know who I am going to call–Suzanne!